


static

by OnyxSphynx



Series: newmann one-shots [79]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M, atmospheric(tm), or: i write introspective shit from raleigh's perspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 12:32:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19334593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnyxSphynx/pseuds/OnyxSphynx
Summary: It seems, perhaps, that Raleigh is the only one who hasn't changed in the last decade.





	static

**Author's Note:**

> [bae-science](https://bae-science.tumblr.com/%22) asked: "post pru healing prompt: “Raleigh first realizes how the last ten years have changed Dr. Geiszler when he gives Raleigh a nervous smile and calls him by his name”"

The shatterdome is new; that, of course, is to be expected; the last one that stood here was blown to smithereens less than a year and a half ago, but still, to be walking through halls with clean, white walls and the distinct lack of water running beneath concrete bellow his feet is disconcerting.

“It’s too…nice.”

Mako offers a wry smile. “It’s good to see you again,” she says, the tone weary, one eye hidden behind an understated eyepatch, the hair going silver at the roots, and Raleigh thinks,  _I wonder how long ago she stopped dying it blue_. He doesn’t voice it; doesn’t, perhaps, think that it’s his right to know.

He did run away, in the end, for a decade.

“What happened?” he asks, instead, because he knows what they’re saying, but he’s never trusted the news, or the PPDC. “All I know is that there was an attempt at reopening a Breach to the Anteverse. You’re okay, right?”

He hesitates there, wonders if he should add more; should apologise. Mako speaks before he can. “I’m as well as could be expected, given that I survived a helicopter crash.”

That draws a bark of laughter from him; sudden, unexpected. His teeth snap shut with a  _click_  the moment he realises it. “And the others who were injured? What  _really_  happened, Mako?”

“They…” she pauses. “Most of them have recovered, but…”

“What is it?” he prompts.

“Doctor Geiszler…Newt—he—” her voice is trembling, almost, and she swallows. “It was—he didn’t do it willingly, but he’s…he’s fragile, Raleigh, and…”

“It hurts,” he finishes, moves to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, tentative. “I…I’m sorry. I know you were very close to him.” It feels inadequate—what, exactly, can he say to her? How can he understand what she’s going through, understand the pain from the abrupt severing of a bond, and then, now, to have to try and reconcile the image she’s had of him with reality…

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, in the end,” he comforts, knows that it sounds hollow. “He did manage to hang on for ten years, and he’s got Gottlieb by his side, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she nods, blinks rapidly for a moment. “I…it’s good to see you.”

“Me too,” he replies, the  _I miss you still, somehow_  unspoken, thinks they both know it, somehow. “But I—I’m here now, if you…if you need me. If you  _want_  me here.” 

A brief nod of her head, one he almost misses, is the only reply. It’s enough.

* * *

The word around the ‘dome is that Doctor Newton Geiszler of the many PhDs is  _different_.

Raleigh privately considers that statement with amusement; if they’re only just realising now that a man who got himself covered in tattoos of Earth’s enemies and hooked his brain up with a kaiju, twice, is  _odd_ , then one has to wonder how effective they are, really.

Pointed silences, though, tell much of the story when he does get around to asking Tendo about it; the files he can find are covered in [REDACTED], more so than any other he’s seen.

It’s then that he considers, perhaps, that the word shouldn’t be  _different_  but changed; the weight of an alien hive-mind has taken it’s toll.

But in the end, the truth is this: Raleigh first realises how the last ten years have changed Dr. Geiszler when he gives Raleigh a nervous smile and calls him by his name.

Gottlieb, by his side, eyes him up warily when they bump into each other in the hallway; shoulders tense, fingers gripping the head of his cane; warning; his eyes track Raleigh’s every move.

“H—hey,” stammers Geiszler, swallows. For a moment, Raleigh wonders if he doesn’t recognise him. “Sorry for, uh, bumping into you. My bad. I—” he glances to the phycist by his side. “It's—the PPDC is glad to have you back.”

The speech patterns are odd; off, just slightly; his voice, still high and scratchy, lacks a certain  _bounce_ , awkwardly fitting in words like he doesn’t quite know where they go.

Gottlieb, by his side, feels reminiscent of a feral animal, held back, barely, ready to leap at him at the slightest hint that he’s making Geiszler uncomfortable. He offers a twisted smile. “I’m glad to be back. I’m glad to…” he pauses. “Mako needs all the help she can get,” he says, instead, realises how that comes across— _needs all the help she can get because of what you did_.

That, then, lingers between them; he’s not used to trying to curb his words—a decade spent as far from humanity and from those he worked with hardly aiding his skills in doing so.

He expects Geiszler to go off on him, to snap something biting, eyes flashing with a glint of the blood roaring through his veins, ready for a fight—Raleigh has seen that before, from him—but it never comes.

Instead, he licks his lips, quick, and shrinks back, slightly, presses himself to Gottlieb’s side. “I think she—she’s glad to have you back,” he offers, quietly.

And then they’re off, Geiszler’s hand on his arm, shadows practically one with how close they’re standing, leaving Raleigh behind to wonder if, perhaps, he’s the only one who’s remained the same; stuck, like a bug in amber, the anachronous anomaly; static where those around him have shifted.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me at [three-black-cats](https://three-black-cats.tumblr.com/) on tumblr


End file.
